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Wednesday, November 23, 2016

The Skinny: Isles 3, Anaheim 2 (shootout)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 18

Isles 3, Anaheim 2 (SO)

Nick Leddy scored in the 14th round to end the longest shootout in Islander history as the Isles completed a season series sweep off the Anaheim Ducks with a 3-2 victory before a crowd of 15,161 at Honda Center.

Rickard Rakell had scored midway through the third period and the Isles needed to match Duck shootout tallies in the 4th, 6th, 8th, and 12th round of the shootout before Leddy scored his first career shootout goal and became the first defenseman in Isles history to score the game deciding goal in a shootout.

It's the Isles' 70th all-time shootout win, matching Pittsburgh's NHL record. This was the longest shootout in Isles history (14 rounds, beating the 13 rounds vs. Tampa Bay on March 28, 2014) and matched the highest scoring (5-4 loss to Florida last November 28th). It's the first time the Isles have ever scored 5 shootout goals in a game.

The Skinny

The Isles have points in 4 of last five games (1-1-3)… The Isles defense contributed another three points, giving them 14 goals and 26 assists this season…The Isles are 2-4 in OT/SO this season; in all six games the opponent scored the last goal in regulation to force overtime (although both the Oilers and Ducks (Oct 16) did so in the 2nd period)… Nikolay Kulemin played in his 600th NHL game; he was the only Islander without a shot on goal… Josh Bailey recorded a season-high six shots on goal (his career high is 7); two of Bailey's three goals this season have come against Anaheim…The Isles scored on their first power play opportunity for the second straight game…Adam Pelech's goal, awarded after a scoring change, makes him the 359th Islander to score a goal…The road team won all five NHL games tonight…The Isles are 3-0-1 when leading after 1 period and 4-0-1 when leading after 2 periods…The Isles matched a season high with two goals in the first period.

Movin' on Up

Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist; his 164 assists are one more than Ziggy Palffy had for the Isles placing Josh 25th all-time, while he now has 260 career points (24th on all-time Isles list) which are two more than Steve Thomas and Jason Blake each had for the Isles.

The Injuries

Sami Vatanen (ill) left the game in the first period and did not return. Cal Clutterbuck (upper body) left the game in the second period and did not return.

Road Stretch

The Isles are in the midst of their first significant road stretch of the season, as five out of seven games are on the road:

11/10 @ Lightning - Lost 4-1

11/12 @ Panthers - Lost 3-2 (OT)

11/14 Vs Lightning – Lost 4-0

11/18 Vs Penguins – Lost 3-2 (OT)

11/22 @ Ducks – Won 3-2 (SO)

11/23 @ Kings

11/25 @ Sharks

Following this stretch the Isles will not play consecutive road games until after Christmas.

California Dreaming

The Isles are 1-0-0 on this California trip with two games to play. The Isles went 2-1-0 in California in each of the last two seasons and both trips led to a prolonged hot streak for the team.

The Shots

Isles 10-12-12-1=35

Anaheim 12-13-9-7-=41

The Isles are 4-3-1 when they outshoot their opponents and 1-0-0 when the shots are even but are 1-5-3 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 6-8-4 overall; 5-4-3 at home and 1-4-1 on the road.

Anaheim is 9-7-4 overall; 6-3-1 at home and 3-4-3 on the road.

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 0-3-2 in Division games and 6-5-2 in games versus other divisions (1-4-1 vs. Atlantic, 1-0-0 vs. Central and 4-1-1 vs. Pacific). The Isles are 1-7-3 against the East and 5-1-1 against the West.

Last season the Isles went 18-8-4 in Division games and 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. The Isles went 19-7-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home.

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 39 saves in the game and 10 in the shootout to improve to 3-3-0 on the season and 3-3-2 in his career against Anaheim. Greiss is 8-5 all-time in shootouts.

Jonathan Bernier made 33 saves; he is 3-1-1 on the season and 3-3-3 against the Isles in his career. He is 10-14 all-time in shootouts.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 1-5 on the power play, while Anaheim was 1-2.

The Isles are 1-3-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-5-1 when they do not. The Isles are 3-5-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-3-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 6-1-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-7-3 when they do not. The Isles were 37-4-2 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 3-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-1 in games decided in overtime and are 1-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 3-0-2 when they score first and are 3-8-1 when they allow the opening goal.

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 216-183-60 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.Al Arbour 1,500

2.Jack Capuano 459

3.Mike Milbury 191

4.Terry Simpson 187

5.Scott Gordon 181

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.Al Arbour 740

2.Jack Capuano 216

3.Terry Simpson 81

4.Peter Laviolette 77

5.Ted Nolan 74

Capuano is the 75th coach in NHL history to coach at least 450 games. His 216 wins places him 66th all-time, 3 behind Herb Brooks and 5 behind Bob McCammon.

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 1-2-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 1-1-0 on the back-end. Last season, the Isles went 5-5-5 on the front-end and 9-3-3 on the back end of back-to-backs.

The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season; the next set is November 30 vs. Pittsburgh and December 1 in Washington.

Tired vs. Rested

·The Isles are 1-0-0 when both teams played the night before.

·The Isles are 3-1-1 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·The Isles are 0-1-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Alan Quine won 7 of 12 for the Isles; Antoine Vermette won 13 of 20 for Anaheim.

The Isles won 25 of 46 face-offs over the first two periods but only 8 of 25 in the third period and overtime. The Isles won 23 of 54 draws at even strength, 7 of 12 on the power play and 3 of 5 on the penalty kill.

Hit Count

Isles 28, Anaheim 21. Jason Chimera led the Isles with 5 hits; Josh Manson had five to lead Anaheim.

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 3: (deHaan 1, Hamonic 1, Mayfield 1).

The Isles were involved in 23 fights last season.

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 14 blocked shots, including four by Calvin deHaan.

The Isles win the season series two games to none (and four points to two), winning once in overtime and once in a shootout.

It's the second straight season that the Isles have swept Anaheim, giving them four straight wins over the Ducks for the first time ever. The Isles have also won three straight games in Anaheim for the first time in club history.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 10-5-0 after sweeping a pair of home games on Saturday and Sunday. Eamon McAdam made 26 saves in a 5-2 win over Lehigh Valley while and then made 24 saves in a 3-2 overtime win over Binghamton on Sunday. Kane Lafranchise had the overtime winner on Sunday while Josh Ho-Sang had two points in each game.

The Islanders continue their California road trip with their first meeting of the season with the Los Angeles Kings.

The teams have split a pair of games each of the last two seasons, with the home team winning both games last season after the road team won each game (the Isles' win coming in a shootout) the previous year.

That shootout win is the only one the Isles have at Staples Center since 2003, having gone 1-5-0 in their last six games since Garth Snow beat the Kings by a 3-2 score.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog http://www.nyiskinny.com./

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick